JB Food Hunting 02 - The Replacement Lodge and Kitchen

I got to know The Replacement Lodge and Kitchen through Instagram.  It shows up quite often and seems quite 'instagrammable'.  Out of curiosity, I paid it a visit on a fine Sunday afternoon.

To get there, get to City Square in JB, look for the MacDonald on the ground floor, walk out of City Square into Jalan Wong Ah Fook.  Then walk towards Johor Strait/Singapore, until you see an Indian temple.  Walk across the street to the street behind the Indian Temple, turn left and continue walking, until you reach Jalan Dhoby.  The Replacement is on the right, behind a very run down place.

The Replacement Lodge and Kitchen Building

We got there around 12 o'clock noon.  They only had outdoor seating at that time, if we wanted to have indoor seating, we had to wait for 15 minutes or so.  Considering the raving heat outside, we decided to wait for indoor seating, in the comfort of air-conditioning.

The Counter

The interior design is simply, fusion with both modern and some hints of retro.  The patrons seem to be mostly young people, I mean really young people, those who are in their late teens to early 20s.  The staff there are also very young, about the same age group.  My friend and I looked pretty much out of place :(

We were soon offered an indoor seating, sofa seats.  The two of us occupied two sofas that could fit at least six people.  I wondered why nobody took up such nice seating while the whole place was full?  I got the answer the moment I sat down.  My butt was expecting a comfortable, soft cushion when it hits the sofa, instead, it met with the hard, cold wooden frame underneath a paper thin layer of fake leather!  In addition, water was dripping down from somewhere on to one of the seats of my 3-seater sofa.

As we already had our lunch that day, we only ordered a dark chocolate cake, a piccolo for myself, and a mocha for my friend.

Dark Chocolate Cake, RM18.90++

A sponge cake with a layer of hard crust of dark chocolate was served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, with biscuit crumbles as the topping.  The cake was not bad.  Rock-solid crust of dark chocolate!  Those that like it bitter must have loved it to the core.  The sweetness of the vanilla ice creams softened the impact of the bitterness of the dark chocolate, leaving a pleasant sensation. 

Piccolo, RM 11.00++

My piccolo was acceptable, but comparing it with the one I had from The Botanist, it lacked the nutty fragrance, the punch was also much milder.

My friend ordered the mocha, and it was a total disaster.  It didn't taste anything remotely like mocha.  I had a sip.  Yucks, was it actually water chestnut juice?  Or something like that?  My friend said it tasted like durian.

Our bill came to a total of RM50, including service charge and GST.

My opinion is that this place is hip, but there is quite a lot of room for improvement.  Eventually, what attracts people are good food, good drinks, a nice and comfortable environment, which they are lacking in some.

JB Food Hunting 01 - Kam Long Curry Fish Head

I have heard about Kam Long (金龙）curry fish head in Johor Bahru for a long time, but never had a chance to give it a try, recently I decided that I must give it a try.

To get to Kam Long, take the Woodlands causeway to Johor Bahru.  After you go through Malaysia immigration, walk into City Square.  Look for the MacDonald on the ground floor.  Walk out of City Square, into Jalan Wong Ah Fook.  Then walk towards Singapore/Johor Strait.  If you are in City Square, facing Jalan Wong Ah Fook, it is on your left.  Keep walking along Jalan Wong Ah Fook, until you see a queue out of nowhere in the street.

The queue at Kam Long

Kam Long Curry Fish Head Shop-front

We got there at 10.09am on a Saturday.  There was already a queue of about 10m there.  This is the only shop with a queue, you can't miss it.  A busker was performing right in front of the shop, entertaining the people in the queue.

Busker in front of Kam Long

We finally got a table at around 10.55-11.00am.  This place serves nothing but curry fish head.  The menu is on the wall, simple and straight forward.  When you are ushered into the shop, you will be asked what you like to order immediately. 

Kam Long's Menu

The chef starts cooking your pot of fish head immediately upon your order, right at the shop front.  You can see what he does.  There is nothing to hide.

Chef Cooking at the shopfront

11.10am, our bubbling pot of curry fish head was delivered on our table.  The steam was rising from the pot violently, fogging my camera lens.

Curry Fish Head, Small, RM26.00

The fish head is strategically placed in the middle.  Vegetables such as cabbage, lady's finger, long bean are placed at the bottom of the pot, while dry bean curd skin is placed atop.

I first tried the curry.  The curry is different from all the curry I had before.  It was smooth, with the fragrance of coconut, even good to drink on its own.  Yet it still retains its punch at the end.

The dry bean curd skin soaks in all the flavors of the curry, the fish and the vegetables, wow...it is heaven!

They use red-snapper for the fish head.  It was super fresh.  The fish head was fully cooked, but the meat was still very tender.  It would bounce in your mouth.  There wasn't even a hint of any fishy smell.  Instead you would taste a hint of sweetness of the sea.  Great!

Portion-wise, we ordered a small pot for the two of us, both guys, plus a small bowl of rice for each.  We were full after we finished everything.

For the entire meal, our total cost was RM36.00.

I strongly recommend Kam Long curry fish head.  This is the best curry fish head I have ever had.  The 1-hour wait is worth it.  Everything is perfect!  I have never given any other restaurant/eating place such a high rating.

Yomeya Goemon at Star Vista

Yomenya Goemon (洋面屋五右卫门) at Star Vista is a Japanese restaurant serving Japanese-style western food.  The restaurant has been there since the opening of Star Vista, so it has been quite a number of years, but I only got to try it recently.

There is a display of the food they serve at the restaurant front, to entice the undecided diners to come in.   The place is not big, with a typical Japanese restaurant decoration, and tiny tables and chairs.  What is interesting is every table has this half-moon shaped tray, with your napkin and chopsticks on it.

I ordered the Hokkaido soup spaghetti.  It came like a piece of art.  The spaghetti was simmering in a thick, fragrant soup.  The color of the soup was snow white, just like the vast snow field in Hokkaido during winter.

Soup Hokkaido Spaghetti, $16.80++

Toppings of salmon, sausage, potato cubes, bacon and corn were scattered around on top.  The soup was very good, the fragrance came from alcohol, I guessed.  The spaghetti was not the hard in the core type, more fully cooked, but not until it lost its defined body-shape.

The portion was not very big, but sufficient to make your stomach feel contented.  Service was pretty good too.

Overall, it was a pleasant experience and I enjoyed it.

Porn's Sexy Thai Food at Star Vista

Porn's Sexy Thai Food is a Thai restaurant owed by Singapore TV personality Pornsak Prajakwit.  He is a Thai Chinese, but made his fame in Singapore.  Heard about his restaurant for quite a number of years.  The first one was at Bugis, but then never had a chance to give a try.  Now that there is one at Star Vista, finally I gave it a try.

The interior design is of the street and casual style to mimic Bangkok's street culture.

Pornsak's life-size cut-out figure stands at the entrance to welcome the guests.

Green Curry with Chicken, $10.90++

Our first dish was green curry with chicken.  The curry was not very spicy when it first entered your mouth, but then slowly slowly the spiciness would creep up and you found your mouth and tongue burning.  At such a critical time, your best rescue would be a sip of the famous Thai ice tea.

Thai Ice Tea, $3.90++

This Thai ice tea was my savior for the day, to save me from spiciness and some other not so pleasant taste which you will know when you read on.

Nong Kai Fish Fillet, $12.90++

Stir-Fried Bean Sprout with Mushroom, $8.90++

We also ordered a fish fillet and a stir-fried bean sprout with mushroom.  These two dishes had one thing in common - Saltiness.  Both were very salty.  That was the only dominant taste that I could register with my taste buds.

The fish fillet was simmering in a clear spicy broth.  Even with the spiciness of the broth, it still couldn't cover the fish smell of the fillet. That really says a lot...

Pad Thai, $11.90++

Last but not least, my Pad Thai.  It is one of my most favorite Thai dish, and it always brings me lots of satisfaction.  The Pad Thai here was a surprise to me, a chunk of wet stuff all mixed together.  There was no taste other than saltiness.

In terms of service, when we arrived, there were about 4-5 tables with customers, and two waitresses.  I am not in the restaurant industry, so I don't know whether this is considered to be under-staffed.  My opinion is no.  The service was slow.  The waitress who served us was a role model of service without a smile.  She pulled a long face throughout.  When our dishes were served, there were no cutlery for our table.

Overall, the food they serve is not the normal standard Thai food.  You can easily find better Thai food elsewhere in Singapore.  The friend who dined with me concluded that it is a restaurant that we should not come back.  I like Pornsak as a TV personality, but not for his restaurant.  Sorry.

Sumiya at Suntec City

Lunched at Sumiya at Suntec City the other day.  Take note that this is SuMiya, or 岚家 in Kanji or Chinese.  There is a restaurant chain in Singapore with a very similar name, which is Sukiya.  I almost mixed the two up.

Sapporo Draft Beer (330ml), $4.80++

While waiting for my food, I decided to give their Sapporo draft beer a try.  The beer is translucent in clarity, slight in fragrance.  The taste is smooth, with almost non-detectable taste or after-taste of bitterness.  I like it.  I have a general dislike of beer that is bitter, with the only exception of the famous Australian beer of Victoria Bitter.  The reason for that exception is Victoria Bitter is actually not bitter, if you drink it at the right temperature.  Once it warms up, the taste is indeed bitter!

Kaiseki Set, $29.80++

I ordered their Kaiseki set.  What is "kaiseki"?  Wikipedia says: a set menu of select food served on an individual tray.  The price of Kaiseki in Japan can vary quite a lot.  Some are still at the affordable range of about $30-40/pax, while the expensive ones can cost upward of $200/pax.

My kaiseki came with a great presentation.   All the items were laid out artistically as if the tray were a canvas, while the chef is the artist using the food as his paint to come up with a beautiful painting.

For the whole set, I am most impressed with the egg piece.  They somehow manage to 'write' the name of the restaurant on the egg block.

In terms of taste, I like the simmering items best.  The pumpkin was carved as a leaf.  It is super soft, basically melts in your mouth.  The carrot was presented as a plum flower.  You are not just having a meal, you are having an arts appreciation class as well.

Overall, the presentation of the food is very artistic and obviously efforts have made in this area.  In terms of taste, I think it is acceptable, but not fantastic.  The rice was a bit on the hard side, the salmon flakes didn't smell too good.  The grilled fish was kind of tasteless.  However, at its price, it is quite a fair deal, though.

Chun Kee Seafood White Bee Hoon at Cheong Chin Nam Road

Happened to pass-by Chun Kee at Cheong Chin Nam Road, which is directly opposite the famed Beauty World shopping center.

It was already after lunch hour, there were not many customers there.  It happened that the owner, the gentleman in a shirt in the photo above, was there to entertain his family and/or friends.  Someone once said that the best assurance a restaurant owner can give to the patrons is to eat the food from his own restaurant, thus I felt very assured that day. 

The place is divided into two sections.  The inner section has air conditioning, while the outer section doesn't .   Choose what you prefer.

Seafood White Bee Hoon, $5.80

I ordered the seafood white bee hoon, their signature dish, for $5.80.  No GST, no service charge.  The ingredients are quite simple.  Two pieces of prawns, a few pieces of squid, egg, vegetables and of course, the mee hoon (vermicelli).  The bee hoon came piping hot, as it was cooked upon order.  A word of caution: It is really hot, especially the broth.  I almost burnt my tongue.  So you have been warned, be patient!

The broth is strong-flavored.  It was said that the broth was cooked with chicken stock and lala clams, no wonder it was sweet, and had this pleasant smell of the sea.  The egg was first fried till a bit burnish, then cooked together with the rest of the ingredients.  The fried egg and the broth mixed together and created the strong flavor in the dish.  A nitpick is it is a bit on the more salty side.  If they can use slightly less salt, it would have been perfect.

The vermicelli retained its shape well, not a big patch of unidentified objects.  The best part is the vermicelli managed to absorbed the broth nicely without being over-cooked.

Overall, I think the food was good.  It is a more memorable version of the seafood white bee hoon found in Singapore.

Fatty Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodle and Carrot Cake

There are a number of interesting stalls at the Ci Yuan Community Club, Fatty Fried Carrot Cake is one of them.  Well, first thing first, the carrot cake is very much a misnomer.  The ingredient used is actually radish, not carrot.  And the guy who fries the carrot cake is not actually fat. 

Fried Carrot Cake, $3.50

The very traditional, or say common carrot cake usually is fried with tons of oil, and seasoned with generous portions of salt.  At this stall, somehow they manage to control the quantities of these two elements well.  You won't feel salty at all, but still retains the fragrance of the radish and egg, as well as the flavor of the dish. 

The traditional way of preparing for this dish is very time-consuming.  First, you start with shredding the radish into slices.  Then you mix it with flour at the right proportion to make it into a kind of paste.  After that, put that paste into a steamer to steam for x amount of time until it solidifies and becomes a piece of big cake.  Next you cut the cake into small pieces of 1-cm cubes.  I think most of the hawkers don't do this anymore.  They just buy from the whole-salers the ready-made carrot cake cubes. 

When a customer orders the dish, they will fry the carrot cake together with eggs till the outer crust becomes crispy, while the inside still maintains some softness.  On this, I think this stall at Ci Yuan did a pretty good job.  You can experience the bounciness of the carrot cake at every bite. 

It is a good place to satisfy your carrot craving if you are nearby.